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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Saint-Martin church of Sillegny, located in Moselle in the East, is a Gothic building built in the 15th century, with an older fortified tower serving as a refuge for the inhabitants. A major transformation campaign at the hinge of the 15th and 16th centuries allowed the addition of the choir, the transept and the first sacristy, as well as the original stained glass windows, partially replaced in the 19th century by works by Laurent-Charles Marshal, pupil of Delacroix. The bell tower, shaved in the 16th century, was rebuilt in the 19th century, but a municipal decision then removed the south arm of the transept, breaking its symmetry.

What distinguishes this monument is its exceptional decoration of anonymous frescoes of the second quarter of the 16th century, covering walls and vaults. These egg and glue paintings, inspired by the Gospel and the Bible, earned the church the nickname of Little Lorrain Sistine or Sistine de la Seille. According to tradition, an Italian painter travelling in 1540 made them at the request of the parish priest, although certain hypotheses evoke artists related to the cloister Sainte-Marie-aux-Nonnais de Metz. Covered with badigeon at the end of the 18th century, they were rediscovered in 1845 and restored for twenty years by the artist Messin Malardot.

Ranked a Historical Monument in 1881, the church suffered damage during the American bombings of 1944, destroying the bell tower and seriously damaging the fresco of the Last Judgment. It was restored from 1945 to 1963, followed by a new campaign from 2002 to 2004 to preserve these treasures. Among the scenes depicted is Saint Caesar, deacon and martyr, patron of the Roman emperors, painted in the presbytery.

The building illustrates both the religious art of the Renaissance in Lorraine and the hazards of its history, marked by partial destruction and successive restorations. Its early classification reflects its exceptional heritage value, while its frescoes offer a rare example of secular and sacred 16th century mural art in France.

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